"It's like I come back in Italy after just a year, buy a newspaper and read about Reggina, Lecce, Bologna and Torino at the top of the Serie A and Inter, Juventus and Milan at the bottom"

Referring to Barrichello and Button:"The drivers in our teams were and are world champions and now, instead, an almost-pension-aged driver and another one - a good fellow but a "curbstone" - are fighting for the championship."

"It's impossible to fill the gap we have from those teams. The championships will be decided within three-four GPs, and I can't imagine TV and fans interest in seeing a race when Button has 60 pts, Nakajima has 50 pts and another driver 80 pts: better listen it at the radio and watch anything else"

Originally posted by drionita "...and I can't imagine TV and fans interest in seeing a race when Button has 60 pts, Nakajima has 50 pts and another driver 80 pts: better listen it at the radio and watch anything else"

Fortunately he won't need an imagination, he'll be able to witness it for himself in a few races!

Originally posted by drionita
[B]Hi all, these quotes are taken from an interview to Gazzetta dello Sport (sorry for the translation, if someone can do better, here's the link http://www.gazzetta..../briatore.shtml)

"It's like I come back in Italy after just a year, buy a newspaper and read about Reggina, Lecce, Bologna and Torino at the top of the Serie A and Inter, Juventus and Milan at the bottom"

I guess it's very hard for Flav to accept that 3 years in a row, Renault has produced a lemon.

its like its not gonna be about soap opera drivers or team bosses, but like you know, racing and dicing on the track and overtaking and entertainment, not like politics and machinations, there was some italian chap who'd been hoping for such a situation for the last few years, anyone remember his name?

Looks like Flav is under a lot of pressure. No escaping the fact that his team are still a long way short of other non trick diffuser teams, even with Alonso.

Yes - can you imagine the phone calls Flav, Domenicali and Theissen must have had with their bosses from Renault, Fiat and BMW wanting to know how and why they've so badly ballsed things up this year (and failed to read the rules properly). No wonder Flav's in a bad mood.

Originally posted by drionita "It's like I come back in Italy after just a year, buy a newspaper and read about Reggina, Lecce, Bologna and Torino at the top of the Serie A and Inter, Juventus and Milan at the bottom"

Well, this is an interesting quote. Because in 1984-5 Serie A, for the first time, allocated referees to matches by a random draw, rather than appointment by committee, and Hellas Verona won the title, ahead of Torino, Inter and Sampdoria. Not an expected top 4.

The next season they went back to the old system and have retained it ever since; the likes of Verona and Torino have not been close since. Of course the Calciopoli scandal revealed that many teams were able to buy their own favoured officials to cover their matches.

So is Flavio Flav basically saying that one way to increase competition is to make things fair? It's interesting because this year is the first time in ages that the FIA seem a bit dischuffed with Ferrari.

Q: The verdict is there: Ross Brawn was right.
Briatore: ''What was he right about ? The diffuser issue ? Imagine if someone would leave the earth for a year and comes back to find out that Reggina, Lecce, Bologna and Torino are at the top of the Serie A table while Milan, Juventus and Inter are fighting against relegation. In this same way a Formula 1 fan finds out that the championship can be won by someone that was (already) retired (Barrichello - AFCA), one that is as slow as a milepost (Button), Rosberg, Click, or perhaps Clock (Glock - AFCA), Naca...Naca...what's he called ? I don't even know...

Q: Are you still prepared to help Brawn GP financially ?
Briatore: ''I'm not. Actually, at the next FOTA meeting I will propose that each team will keep the money that it intended to give Brawn GP. The FIA has proven Brawn GP right and we, for once will say the FIA is right: Brawn GP is a new team. It will have to do the same as us when we entered (F1). Brawn is richer than I am, than all of us.''

Q: Do you mean that Brawn GP has more money than the big teams ?
Briatore: ''He bought the team for € 1 and on top of that he has received € 130 million from Honda as if it were a newlywed getting money from her parents. € 100 million in cash, € 30 was the famous bonus we (the teams) were willing to pass on to them. Fortunately we haven't yet done so ! I will propose to keep that money: I have to spend a lot of it in order for Renault not to remain one second adrift of Brawn GP. The difference now is that I know where to get the money from !''

Q: Apart from coming up with a double-decker diffuser, what has Brawn done that makes you so angry ?
Briatore: ''He hasn't been transparent as the technical head of the FOTA, he knew (about the diffusers) but didn't say it. Ah, I will propose others to have that role, I no longer feel represented by him. In fact, it's better to put the first Chinese bloke that comes round the corner in that position. Also, Brawn has behaved in a very bad way, attacking everyone one-on-one in front of the Court of Appeal, and in a rude way towards Byrne. Without Byrne, Brawn('s career) wouldn't even exist, I know this very well because both of them worked at Benetton. Byrne is a loyal and honest person, Brawn shamelessly attacked him, and he's done the same thing towards the others. So, he's a genius and all the others are idiots ?''

Q: So could this ruin the unity with the FOTA ?
Briatore: ''Why ? The FOTA approve (on matters) with a majority of 70% of the votes, thank god we don't always have to agree all ten of us. There are some bandits in the sport, it's no longer possible to be monolithic on every issue.''

Q: Parr has accused Ferrari and McLaren of having won titles with illegal cars.
Briatore: ''And for these words someone, the FIA itself, could charge him. Parr is an idiot.''

Q: He's got a role within the FOTA.
Briatore: ''Yes, it's being a pain in the arse.''

Q: Getting back to the verdict: was it really a technical one, or was it political ?
Briatore: ''One of the judges (De Marco from Malta) has fallen to sleep, or he's simply no good, or he knew on forehand what the outcome was going to be. The others were ready to fly out at the airport: after an eight-hour hearing they came up with the verdict in one hour. I don't want to think that there has been the intention to manipulate the result of the championship. If it were like that then that would be very grave, but I repeat: I don't even want to think about it.''

Q: Is the FIA to blame ?
Briatore: ''Very much so, because this entire row should have been dealt with earlier. There are technical people whose homework it is to prevent problems.''

Q: Would it be necessary to put someone alongside Charlie Whiting ?
Briatore: ''The FOTA has put forward Brawn as his technical counterpart: look at what a great technical package he came up with.''

Q: Do you step out of this chaos with at least one certainty ?
Briatore: ''Yes, if you fall down a manhole then it's not a 'hole' but an 'opening'.''

Originally posted by pedrovski Funny thing is I actually agree with flavio on this. I've changed my mind.

These two Button and Barrichello have "won the lottery" and don't really deserve it. The season's over already it's gonna be like 1992 again.

Christ the intelligence of some people jusy farken staggers me.

What on EARTH has Kimi or Massa done in mid budget teams like Sauber that Button didn't do in a mid range team?

Apart from Alonso and Hamilton is there any other driver that has really, really done amazing things? Alonso dragged the Renault up the grid last year and was special int he Minardi and hamilton took to F1 like a duck to water but none of the other 20 have displayed anything more than their car has allowed them to.

Honestly, who gives a rats ar5e about Kimi or Massa ahead of a Button or a Trulli.

It has always been about the car, i am staggered at the number of you that have been unable to see that over the past 20 years, you must blind or outright stupid.

Originally posted by AFCA the championship can be won by someone that was (already) retired (Barrichello - AFCA), one that is as slow as a milepost (Button), Rosberg, Click, or perhaps Clock (Glock - AFCA), Naca...Naca...what's he called ? I don't even know...